Should publishers give away their content for free? Matthew Bryan Beck of SayDaily thinks so. That’s what he’s telling readers in his Dec. 11, 2014 article “Why John Oliver’s Digital Strategy is Winning the Internet.” While Beck makes some valid arguments, his reasoning is flawed.Let’s start with the premise. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is a popular, weekly HBO show, available to subscribers. After each show, HBO releases clips of the longest segment (10 minutes+) to be viewed for free and shared. Recent clips include a Halloween clip about sexy costumes and sugar, Ferguson, Missouri and police militarization, and net neutrality. According to the article, the clips go viral quickly, giving content aggregators like Upworthy and Huffington Post tens of thousands of interactions per post at a minimum.Beck is right that Oliver is thought-provoking and entertaining, and it makes sense for HBO to capitalize on his popularity and the timeliness of his pieces by uploading video segments to YouTube. But that doesn’t mean that all content should be free. What HBO is really doing is driving interest and brand awareness, but monetizing its more evergreen content (Game of Thrones, Girls, The Newsroom) by keeping it exclusive for subscribers. The real lesson is that by creating content they can’t get anywhere else, consumers will pay.Beck also says claims that The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other well-respected news brands don’t understand this simple lesson. Actually, they do. Using metered paywalls, readers have access to some free content, but at some point, readers must subscribe to gain full access. That’s good leverage, especially since there’s a distinct difference between consumers who click on headlines from any news organizations and enthusiasts who are loyal to a certain news brand and return day after day.Also in Beck’s analysis, he compares entertainment companies to big media organizations, and suggests that news organizations can learn from HBO’s example. He claims that Internet consumers will not subscribe to a site like The New York Times when they can do a simple Google search to find news for free. Um, no.First, these are two very different types of businesses with vastly different content that meet different audience needs. What works for an entertainment company won’t necessarily work for a news site. Second, The New York Times has found success – and subscribers – with its metered paywall, so yes, Mr. Beck, Internet consumers will pay for their news.Our conclusion: HBO has found success by sharing John Oliver clips with an international audience. That success or methodology doesn’t necessarily translate to other types of content or subscription models.